Stephen Curry: Golf, Family, and the Mindset Behind His Shot

32:56She's like, wait, what are you doing? And I go into my spiel and at the end of the day, will you marry me? And she sees the ring and she goes, are you serious? Like, stop lying, are you serious? And then at that point, like wait you're saying yes right she's like yes and then everybody opens up the windows and comes running out the side door with cameras and taking pictures and her brother was filming it so it was a cool cool experience and thankfully she said yes but she definitely she was hesitating a little bit with that are you serious like because I think I got it really good so it's good how are the nerves that was a long day it was a like 9 30 at night when I actually proposed so I'm thinking about this obviously for months but then that day just uh it wouldn't go fast enough to get to that to that uh to the proposal because um a lot of planning going in making sure everything goes right but I was definitely nervous and anxious and and uh it's a big day.

33:55And you have a young daughter now Riley um and I understand you actually like delivered her. Yeah that was an experience I didn't know going into the to the delivery process that that I was going to be that hands on. Riley came so fast that I almost didn't have time to get my scrubs on. Because I was actually taking care of Aisha when she was getting the epidural and that whole process. And Riley was hustling to come out. And we were rushing to get my scrubs on and get in position. And the doctor was like, hey, you want to take over? I'm like, what? What do you mean? I don't know what I'm doing.

34:31Just stand right here. and you can hold Riley for the first time when she comes out. And that was a very, very cool experience. How has having a child changed you? It just puts everything into perspective, man. I don't ever have a bad day. Knowing when I go home, I have a wife and daughter to enjoy life with. So, you know, especially with basketball and having that as my career, you're very competitive. when you have a bad game or you lose. It used to be my world. That was it. It kind of altered how you felt about the day. But now, obviously, you're frustrated when things don't go your way. But when I go home, there's nothing that's more gratifying than coming home and spending time with your daughter and your wife and just enjoying what God has blessed me with.

35:27and I don't really know what I used to do with my free time. That's the other thing. You have a daughter. Me and my wife were sitting around the other day just watching her play. Now that she's two, she's kind of a little more independent, but we used to ask her, like, when you came up for practice, what did we do? Because it's now all about Riley, so it's a good thing going on. That's why the road trips are so great, though, because you get to catch up and sleep and relax when you're on the road. I wanted to hear Riley calling or hit me in my face yelling, Daddy, wake up at 7.30 no matter what I did the night before because she doesn't care.

36:03It's time to go. So your dad, Del Curry, 16 successful seasons in the NBA. How often did you used to tag along as a kid to his practices or games? A good amount. We always had the – you can't go to games on school nights. That was a rule in our house. So coming up, I go to games on the weekend. And then when he played in Toronto his last three years, we were living in Charlotte, so we'd go up to see him twice a month for extended weekends, and we'd go to every practice and every game that we could. My favorite part of that was just going to shoot-arounds on the day of the game, because we'd go to the arena, and sometimes the coach would let me get into the shooting drills with the guys and get shots up.

36:57So George Carl, when he was in Milwaukee, was a guy that I think had Vinny Del Negro on the team, Ray Allen, Sam Cassell, my dad. And I'd get into all the shooting drills. I was 11 at the time and get to shoot with the pros. What's that like for you then? That was surreal, yeah. That's sort of surreal. I know my dad's an NBA player, but to actually be on the court with them while they're preparing for an NBA game, getting shots up and shooting drills and shooting competitions was uh I was obviously confident as a kid to go out there and hopefully help my team win but it was uh you had to like stop yourself and think like I'm actually on the court right now with them in practice and coaches let me do it so it was fun.

37:38Other than that is there a moment with your dad's teammates that you most remember? Um it's a couple I think the one in 1994 I was six it was like one of my first memories of him and his team Charlotte was playing Boston in the playoffs and it was a close game down the stretch at home and my dad threw an inbound pass to Alonzo Mourning who hit a buzzer beater from the free throw line to win the game and seal the the that series and my dad threw the inbound pass came in and watched the ball go in was the first on the dog pile and you know jumping on Alonzo as he celebrated on the court and we me and my mom and brother were sitting you know in our normal family section seats and just going crazy because that atmosphere was just unbelievable but then also in Toronto I used to go play one-on-one with with Tracy McGrady Vince Carter Mark Jackson used to be my coach that's cool after practices I'd be sitting on the sidelines, and they'd call me out, check the ball, and play one-on-one.

38:48And my dad still has a newspaper clipping of me guarding Trace McGrady in the post. I'm having an arm bar on him, basically coming up to his thigh, real short, and playing one-on-one that they took a picture of and put it in the Toronto newspaper. So that was pretty cool. Tell about the picture of you sitting on your dad's lap during the All-Star game. Yeah, sitting, I don't know if we were watching the dunk contest or what, but my dad was in three-point shootout, and so we're sitting, he's in his Hornet warm-up, and I'm sitting on his lap, and to our left is Mitch Richmond, and behind me is Coach Don Nelson, and so that was a picture that came out when I got drafted, because, you know, I can't remember exactly what year it was.

39:37I was probably four or five at the time. Fast forward, you know, 17, 18 years, and now I'm playing for coach Don Nelson in Golden State as his draft pick. So those are moments that are, you know, are pretty special growing up with the dad that played in the NBA. And, you know, you see Mitch Mitchman at certain events around the league, and he comes to the Golden State every once in a while. Kind of something to talk about. I remember I was sitting right next to you when I was five years old watching you as an NBA player, and now I'm in your shoes myself. So it's something that I always remember.

40:16What do you think you most learned from your dad?

40:23I guess just how to balance the NBA life with the family. He involved us a lot in the things that he did. and I'd go to appearances and just how he engaged with fans and always seemed to have time to sign autographs or take pictures or talk. We were going around Charlotte.

40:48That goes a long way now that I'm in his shoes as an NBA player myself and just how to be gracious and be thankful for where he is and how he balanced how much time he spent on the road and a 16-year career to still raise three kids with my mom and just do it the right way. And so that's kind of, you don't take those lessons for granted as I come into the league now trying to be respectful when it comes to women in the public, just hanging out with fans and understanding that it's about them and how they support us on the court and just not being that guy that is not about that. How often do you guys speak today?

41:41A good amount. A lot of it's not really about basketball, which is refreshing. So we live basketball 24-7, and to be able to just call them about anything, looking forward to seeing them when we play the Hornets. and we talk about golf a lot, which is fun too. We have that thing between us. It gets competitive when we play, but we love to talk just about our trips to Scotland, about Tahoe tournaments. My first question I always ask is, when was the last time you played? There's a golf course that we joined in Charlotte called Longview, and he's always like, oh, I played three or four times this week.

42:24Longview's in great shape, man. I'm like, oh, that sounds great. I wish I could play. Yeah. It's just kind of, we talk a lot, though. You guys still play horse? Occasionally. A lot of it's mostly at camps and things like that when they want to see the show. But he's beaten me a couple, too many times, actually, recently. So I've got to step my game up. He always says, you're only as good as your last game. And he won the last horse game. So he has the crown right now. Well, there you go. So before you were in college, you're in Las Vegas for a high school travel team tournament, and D1 coaches are filling the gym, including Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, who's now obviously your head coach with Team USA.

43:11How did you play? Terrible.

43:16I wasn't nervous. I didn't feel the pressure knowing that there were so many coaches in there, but just things didn't click. and I played, I didn't shoot the ball well, had a few too many turnovers, and got a little down on myself because you know that's a big stage, but you hope that they saw something in how you played and how you carried yourself and how much energy you put into it that they would hopefully give you a shot even though statistically I didn't play well. How did you feel after?

43:53I was a little unsure, I guess you could say, because I know how crucial that summer was to hopefully get a scholarship offer from those big-time schools, as you talked about. Obviously, Duke or Carolina, growing up in Tar Heel country and North Carolina. But I felt I just wanted another shot, really, to go out and play again because I knew I could play better, and hopefully they would take notice. Knowing that I gave it my all was something I kind of laid my hat on too because in the game of basketball, you don't know what's going to happen. As long as you play hard, you should be okay with the result.

44:35There did end up obviously being limited interest in you from a recruiting standpoint when you were coming out of college or coming out of high school with the college's few scholarship offers. Since your father, though, played for Virginia Tech and was in their Hall of Fame, you wanted to go to that school as well. How long had you wanted to be a Hokie for? For a long time. We used to take trips up there on Saturdays to go watch Virginia Tech football games. And, you know, that was something that I had my eye on to kind of follow my dad's footsteps and play, you know, for Virginia Tech. It was close to home but far enough away where I could, you know, enjoy the college experience.

45:29All those thoughts kind of came in my head. and when you get to the recruiting process, you just hope that something good would happen, that they would offer a scholarship. And I remember going up and playing with the guys on an unofficial visit and feeling pretty comfortable up there. Things didn't work out with their plan when it came to how many scholarships they were going to offer out. and they offered me a walk-on position, but that wasn't what I had in mind when it came to playing for the Hokies. But I always had that everything happens for a reason. I had a plan to end up at Davidson, and thankfully that worked out.

46:13How devastating was that, though, at the time? At the time, it was tough because it wasn't like they put a lot of effort into the actual recruiting process. I talked to Coach Greenberg a lot, and he kind of spoke very highly of how I could help their team down the road. And I remember one of the assistant coaches, Stacy Palmore, who would come and have meetings at my school and come to my open gyms at high school. And so when you see them in their presence pretty much at all your games and practices, you think something good is going to happen because they're there for a reason. I wouldn't say they got my hopes up, but I felt it was very, very promising when it came to getting the scholarship offer.

47:02And then, you know, at the end of the process, it didn't work out that way. So it sucked a little bit for sure because, you know, being that both my parents' alma mater, that was kind of what I thought would be the end of that story. Your parents were regulars at the Virginia Tech games up until that point, and they just stopped going after that. to what extent was it painful for the family too?

47:36It was a sore spot I think for sure because like we said, it was, I felt like we'd get duped, but it felt like there were countless opportunities for me that I showed that I could play on that level and the way that Coach Greenberg and his staff was talking that that was going to happen. and it didn't. I haven't really talked to my dad specifically about how he felt about it, because I know he wanted to put a lot of pressure on me at the time of how emotional it was for him. That's a good question, just how much it might have stuck with him. What do you think?

48:23I think with Coach Greenberg, it might be a... If I know my dad, I think he probably would maybe have some words with Coach Greenberg just about how the whole process went because it was a little wacky. But I know he still goes to the Virginia Tech football games and supports and enjoys that whole process because you want to be involved with your alma mater as much as possible. But from a basketball standpoint, I know that was a tough process and something that, you know, he probably is holding on to a little bit. All's well that ends well, obviously. You end up going to Davidson, a school of 1 ,700, 1 ,800 students that, you know, hadn't had basketball success really forever.

49:09And, you know, the rest is history. You revitalized the basketball program. You had this Cinderella Elite Eight run. I was talking to your Davidson head coach the other day, and you fast forward a few years, so the end of your college tenure, and he said that he was texting with you, your coach, the night before you made the decision to leave to enter the NBA a year early. and you texted him back saying you hadn't made a decision yet. Tell about that breakfast you went to the next morning with your teammate. My teammate, Steve Rossiter, we, that's funny. He was my roommate, and we had the same class schedule, so we'd always go to breakfast together.

50:04He'd order three eggs, sunny side oven, and I'd order a nice omelet. And I told him when I got my omelet and sat down, that's kind of when I first could breathe easily knowing I think I knew what I was going to do and I was going to leave and and I always joke that must have been a really good omelet that you had that morning for you to make the decision because that day I knew we had already had a press conference set up regardless of what I was going to do and I knew I had to make a decision because the deadline was coming up and and that breakfast was kind of my first moment of clarity to know that it was time to to go and enter the draft and and take you know see what see what the NBA was like.

50:50And you didn't know until? I really didn't know I had me and our sports information director had written two separate kind of speeches about whether I was gonna stay or where I was gonna go. I had both him in my pocket. I had no idea what I was going to do. So I went to my first class after breakfast and that was when I could just you know just relax and know I was going to go and kind of prepare for that whole day with how it was going to happen knowing that I was deciding to leave. Explain the stress of draft day. That's a it's an interesting experience because for me I was I was at I was invited to the green room and so you know you're going to get drafted but there's that level of uncertainty you don't know where you're going to spend your next four years and trying to get hopefully get to a place that's the right fit for your style of play and just trusting the process so I actually didn't work out with for Golden State during the pre-draft process I had like four workouts and And I met with Larry Riley, who was a GM then.

51:58You weren't really interested in going to Golden State. It was a situation where talking with my agency in, obviously, New York and Coach D 'Antoni, when he was there, felt like the best fit. And so we had kind of had a lot of real tunnel vision for that team. And they said if I was on the board that they would take me. and I didn't really know how highly you know coach Nelson and and Larry Riley were on my game and me as an individual so when I got to to the seventh pick and I was on the board you know David Stern come out and announced my name and they always joke because like it when you watch the telecast or the draft or whatever like he comes out like with the seventh pick Golden State selects Stephen Curry, and I put my head on the table and pounded twice.

52:53And a lot of people were like, are you even happy that you got drafted by Golden State? I'm like, yeah, that was just a sense of relief because there's nothing that can prepare you for that moment when you hear your name called regardless of if I thought I was going to the next pick. Just knowing that that dream has become a reality, that was kind of how it came out of me. Like, oh, all right, I'm in the league now. and can enjoy the process from there because I was nervous for sure. Your first NBA game, you know, you're out there on court. There are dancers. There are videos of you guys in the preseason.

53:31I think you're the second-to-last person announced. Your mom said she cried. You said it was very intense. What do you recall from that day? I remember playing. We were playing Houston at home, And it was just, I knew I'd won the starting job, so I was starting in my first ever NBA regular season game. And I got dressed up in this outfit I'd probably never wear ever again. Going to the game, I had this ugly hat on with, I think, a sweater with a button-up that was not my style at the time. So I was actually trying to outdo myself when it comes to my first NBA game. And just the whole day leading up was kind of a blur, to be honest, until the game started.

54:22Because you have so much, I was so anxious to just play. And when you get to, when you're a rookie, you get to the game like three hours before the tip-off. And that seems like an eternity for just so many thoughts going through my head. and I'm just fidgety, ready to go. Hearing your name in the starting lineup with, like you said, all the theatrics of the game, I think we ended up losing. But it was just a pretty special night all the way around to go and just enjoy the life of the NBA game and get my season going. What would you say is the most satisfying moment from your career to date? I think becoming an All-Star was definitely special because when you recognize one of the best at your position in your conference, that's a dream come true.

55:18It's a part of the process of hopefully becoming one of the greats. And I think just being able to help a franchise come from where we came and become a winning franchise, and have representation at the All-Star game for the first time since like 1996. It was Latrell Sprewell in 97. And all that kind of goes into just hopefully leaving a lasting legacy. And I think we obviously a lot of work to do. I'm still in my sixth year, so a lot of work to do. But becoming an All-Star and winning your first playoff series are two things that I'll never forget and hopefully they're the building blocks to a championship.

56:06You mentioned Mark Jackson and playing with him when you know you were a kid running around and your dad was an NBA player. He was obviously your head coach here in Golden State for many years, was fired in 2014. Why do you think you took it so hard? He did a lot for me as a player. Instilled a lot of confidence and a lot of growth on and off the court. And for me, he embodied success with the Warriors organization. He changed the culture from being a lottery team to winning 50 games, consecutive playoff appearances and you know going to the wire with San Antonio in the second round trying to make it to the Western Conference Finals all that was was embodied for me and what coach Jackson was about so you know when you have a relationship with a coach on and off the court it's tough to see that at end especially you know coming off the season that we had and And, you know, it was just tough because I didn't see it.

57:24Obviously, there was a lot of questions about it throughout the season, but me personally, I didn't think that it would go down like that. But, you know, as players, it's not in our control. And obviously, I had a reaction to it, but, you know, as players, we got to move on. Looking back on that today, how do you feel about what happened? I mean, the same. It's just, you know, I knew it was a decision that, you know, our organization had to make. And, you know, it's really all it is because I'll still have a relationship with Coach Jackson regardless if he's my coach or not. And I know they hired a great coach in Steve Kerr that is going to take us to new heights.

58:14But, you know, when you deal with – when you go a seven-game series against the Clippers and you fight and fight and fight, you know, with a head coach that I love playing for, and, you know, two days later he's fired, it's tough to deal with. And then you kind of separate yourself from that and look at the situation for what it is now. You know, we're in a good place with Coach Kerr. And, you know, I'm happy with the direction, regardless of my personal relationship with Coach, and it will continue. What did you say to him the first time you talked after? To Coach Jackson? I told him, thank you for everything he did for me.

58:58You know, like I said, he put me in positions to be successful and take my game to new heights. and I'm very grateful for who he was as a person and what he did for the Warriors, putting us in position to be a successful team and be relevant and a lot of what he did is going to last for a long time. Steve Kerr obviously replaces Coach Jackson as the head coach. How much did it mean to you that he called you before news of the hiring became public? It meant a lot because I know he knew how much I loved Coach Jackson. And him coming in as our new coach was about a new journey. We did some great things under the new regime, but he was going to come in as a prepared coach.

59:55and asked me to lead that charge and have faith in his process and what he was about. And that meant a lot because he not only talked to myself, but every single one of our teammates he tried to be as personal and as open as possible, saying he wasn't going to come in and try to reinvent the wheel. He inherited a very solid roster, but was going to try to do little things to take us to that next level. And I believed everything he said, and so far it's been exactly that. And, you know, he's definitely ready for the job. How's playing for the national team? It's an amazing experience because it puts you in a different situation as a basketball player.

1:00:41You have to play a different role on the team. There's so many talented guys, so many superstars that, you know, you have to find different ways to play and be effective on the court. Obviously, you don't lose who you are as a player with your regular team, but it just takes a different kind of shape and form with the Team USA. Just representing your country and the places that we've gone and traveled to and played, having been in Istanbul in 2010 and Barcelona, Madrid, and this past summer. you know those are those are moments that you relish because you build camaraderie and chemistry and a partnership with the teammates that you have in the short time that you're together but it's all you know about maintaining that American dominance of of international basketball that uh that we've established under coach coach Shiseski so it's a special special experience that I'm proud to be a part of.

1:01:46What have you learned from playing for Coach K? Man, he's just such a consistent guy with how he approaches everything. He never cuts corners. He never takes shortcuts regardless of who our opponent was during the run. It seemed like the championship game and he tried to invoke that kind of atmosphere and that high level of expectation every single game and that's why I think you know we've been so successful in his regime is because there's no there's no drop-offs there's no you don't come out flat playing for coach K just he gets everybody riled up and motivated and you know in line mentally with with the task at hand and he has a great way of doing it Paul George's injury in summer 2014 in the bone obviously literally coming through the skin you were there for it how did that impact you and you know what caused you to question if at all the commitment to the national team um you know when i saw it it it just it shakes you um i didn't actually see when he when he landed I didn't actually see it happen but as he landed and fell on the ground my view from the bench kind of opened up and I could see that doesn't look like it's supposed to and you see everybody has their own reaction and it kind of just takes you back as you never want to see a guy go down like that and you just feel for him knowing that was a pretty serious you know catastrophic event but But that next week in between training camp periods kind of reassess, for me it just allowed me to reassess just why am I playing for Team USA and if that reason was good to keep playing.

1:03:47For me it was to hopefully get better as a basketball player, represent my country and take advantage of a great opportunity that was in front of me and that was a good enough reason to keep going. I obviously had a lot of discussions with the Warriors ownership and our GM, my parents, my wife, because it is a huge commitment. And you obviously, anytime you play basketball, you're going to put yourself at risk of getting hurt. But at the end of the day, playing for Team USA is something that not everybody gets to experience. And I didn't take that for granted. What's LeBron like? LeBron, he's a cool guy.

1:04:27Yeah, he's a guy that actually for me when I was coming through college when I first met him, he came to a couple of my games. He's just real down to earth, approachable, gave me a lot of mental nuggets that I could take with me as I started my own NBA career.

1:04:50And obviously as a basketball player, the dude's amazing. And so somebody that has a lot of pressure on him and somehow seems to keep getting better. Whether it be your first time with him at his Cleveland house or another time, the best time the two of you have ever had together?

1:05:10Well, it was probably that when we went bowling in his house, which was pretty cool. And you were a young guy then, right? Yeah, my rookie year in the league. and it was him and his two sons were around and we're playing bowling watching some basketball games at his house and we played in Cleveland but he's pretty pretty solid bowler I didn't have a chance yeah I didn't have a chance that day and then the next day they beat us in Cleveland so I was 0 for 2 that week I guess LeBron. Charity and nothing but Nets I've had the chance to go to Africa a few times before and we were there actually this past summer with Dikembe Mutombo.

1:05:52We spent the better portion of a week with him in the Congo at his hospital there. And so I can kind of attest to this, you know, and you can read about it, you can see pictures, you can watch what's on the television, but until you're actually there, you're incapable of fully appreciating both the beauty of the continent and just the also dire poverty. that's there. Your wife said that 2013 Tanzania trip really changed you. How so? You basically described it. I mean, when you go to refugee camp and see 60 ,000 displaced Congolese refugees with nothing really they had really nothing to to to live on you know everybody has the orange tint from the clay that's theirs but they seem so happy when we when they came there to see visitors and people that were there to help them just see the smiles on their faces For me, being with nothing but nets and hopefully doing whatever we can to eradicate malaria because it is preventable with the bed nets that we've been purchasing and sending over to the places in need.

1:07:20To see moms and dads over there with one, two, three, four, five kids not be able to protect their children from something as simple as a mosquito was very heartbreaking because we talked to a lot of families and they had stories of basically 99 % of all the kids that we talked to or families that we talked to their kids have had some episode with malaria whether it be one of them you know passing away before the age of two which is where they're most likely affected or having to attend to their children being sick. It was just heartbreaking and something that as a parent myself, I couldn't imagine being in that situation and doing whatever we can to help them and just hopefully raising enough money to get rid of that problem, which is definitely a realistic goal that we can do.

1:08:22What, from what you saw, most sticks out to you?

1:08:29We went to the maternity ward, and there were about nine or ten moms that were nursing their infants who had had malaria already in the first six months of their life. And it seemed they're almost helpless to a certain extent because the facilities there were not what they should be to help in that situation. They didn't have the supplies. They didn't have all the things that they needed. And you walk by that maternity ward. you see those sick children, and you look on the wall, and there's a big poster that they keep with stats of all the diseases that they're dealing with on a daily basis, and you see malaria and see how many children have died just in that refugee camp alone.

1:09:29That's something that you never want to see, and that image sticks with me pretty heavily, knowing that a couple more nets and a couple more people there to help, we could hopefully take that number way down and have these kids survive. One of the guys at the camp that played basketball, the best, gave a note to you. At the end, do you remember what the note said? One of them wanted to have an email chain and wanted me to be basically his pen pal. He gave me his email. I actually still email him about once every month or so. Oh, really? And he was actually really good. He could play. They made a basketball court out of clay with chalk lines.

1:10:22And it was fun to see him just enjoy the game that's meant so much to me and my family all the way in Tanzania. And then have that kid reach out to me and say, I just want to talk. He gave me a little trophy that they made. It had like two hands coming up like a jump ball with a basketball on top of it, which I still have in my house. So that was pretty special to watch them play and just try to, you know, showcase what they could do for me. I don't think they really knew who I was as a basketball player, but I'm just a visitor here to distribute some nets and help them out. You're doing great things with the foundation, and you obviously have a really unique story, and I appreciate you sharing it with us.

1:11:05Yes, sir. Thank you very much, Graham. I appreciate it, man. Thanks for listening to this week's podcast. Don't forget to leave a rating and review. And for more in-depth interviews, visit GrahamBenzinger.com.